The original purpose of Queen's College was to "educate the youth in language, liberal, the divinity, and useful arts and sciences" and for the training of future ministers for the Dutch Reformed Church[22][23][24] The college admitted its first students in 1771—a single sophomore and a handful of first-year students taught by a lone instructor—and granted its first degree in 1774, to Matthew Leydt.[22][23] Despite the religious nature of the early college, the first classes were held at a tavern called the Sign of the Red Lion.[25] When the Revolutionary War broke out and taverns were suspected by the British as being hotbeds of rebel activity, the college abandoned the tavern and held classes in private homes.[22][23]

Oil painting of Revolutionary War hero and philanthropist, Colonel Henry Rutgers (1745–1830), early benefactor and namesake of Rutgers University

In its early years, due to a lack of funds, Queen's College was closed for two extended periods. Early trustees considered merging the college with the College of New Jersey, in Princeton (the measure failed by one vote) and later considered relocating to New York City.[22][23] In 1808, after raising $12,000, the college was temporarily reopened and broke ground on a building of its own, called "Old Queens", designed by architect John McComb, Jr.[26] The college's third president, the Rev. Ira Condict, laid the cornerstone on April 27, 1809. Shortly after, the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, founded in 1784, relocated from Brooklyn, New York, to New Brunswick, and shared facilities with Queen's College (and the Queen's College Grammar School, as all three institutions were then overseen by the Reformed Church in America).[22][23] During those formative years, all three institutions fit into Old Queens. In 1830, the Queen's College Grammar School moved across the street, and in 1856, the Seminary relocated to a seven-acre (28,000 m2) tract less than one-half miles (800 m) away.[22][23]

After several years of closure resulting from an economic depression after the War of 1812, Queen's College reopened in 1825 and was renamed "Rutgers College" in honor of American Revolutionary War hero Colonel Henry Rutgers (1745–1830). According to the Board of Trustees, Colonel Rutgers was honored because he epitomized Christian values. A year after the school was renamed, it received two donations from its namesake: a $200 bell still hanging from the cupola of Old Queen's and a $5,000 bond (equivalent to $108,000 in 2017) which placed the college on sound financial footing.

Rutgers was designated the State University of New Jersey by acts of the New Jersey Legislature in 1945 and 1956.[27] Shortly after, the University of Newark (1935) was merged with Rutgers in 1946, as were the College of South Jersey and South Jersey Law School, in 1950. These two institutions became Rutgers University–Newark and Rutgers University–Camden, respectively. On September 10, 1970, after much debate, the Board of Governors voted to admit women into Rutgers College.[22][23]

There were setbacks in the growth of the university. In 1967, the Rutgers Physics Department had a Centers of Excellence Grant from the NSF which allowed the Physics Department to hire several faculty each year and become a more prominent institution. These faculty were to be paid by the grant for three years, but after that time any faculty hired with the Associate or Full Professor designation would become tenured. The Governor and the Chancellor forced Rutgers to lose this grant by rejecting these faculty as tenured.

In 1970, the newly formed Rutgers Medical School hired major faculty members from other institutions. In 1971, the Governor's Office separated Rutgers Medical School from Rutgers University and made it part of New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry, and many faculty left the Medical School, including the dean of the Medical School, Dr. Dewitt Stetten, who later became the Director of the National Institutes of Health. As a result of the separation of the Medical School from Rutgers University, graduate PhD programs that had been started in the medical center were lost, and students had to seek other institutions to finish their degrees. After the dissolution of the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry in 2013, the medical school again became part of the university.

Although Rutgers is a public university, it retains—as the successor to the private college founded and chartered in 1766—some important private rights and protections from unilateral state efforts to change its fundamental character and mission.[28]

In 1982, under president Edward J. Bloustein, the liberal arts faculties of these five institutions were centralized into one college, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which itself had no students. The separate residential colleges persisted for students, and while instructors for classes were now drawn from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, separate standards for admission, good standing, and graduation still continued for students, depending on which residential college they were enrolled in.

In the fall of 2007, Rutgers, Douglass, Livingston, and University Colleges, along with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences were merged into the new "School of Arts and Sciences" with one set of admissions criteria, curriculum, and graduation requirements. At this time, the liberal arts components of Cook College were absorbed into the School of Arts and Sciences as well, while the other aspects of that college remained, but as the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. These changes in 2007 ended the 241-year history of Rutgers College as a distinct institution.

On June 20, 2012, the outgoing president of Rutgers University, Richard L. McCormick announced that Rutgers will "...integrate five acres along George Street between Seminary Place and Bishop Place into the College Avenue Campus."[32] Most of the block had been occupied by the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Rutgers agreed to rebuild the seminary in exchange for the land it gave up.

In 2013, Rutgers changed part of its alma mater, "On the Banks of the Old Raritan". Where the lyrics had stated, "My father sent me to old Rutgers, and resolved that I should be a man," now they state, "From far and near we came to Rutgers, and resolved to learn all that we can."[33]

Rutgers celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2016. On May 15 President Barack Obama became first sitting president to speak at the university's commencement.[32] The university held a variety of celebrations, academic programs, and commemorative events which culminated on the 250th anniversary date, November 10, 2016.

The president serves in an ex officio capacity as a presiding officer within the university's 59-member board of trustees and its eleven-member board of governors,[45] and is appointed by these boards to oversee day-to-day operations of the university across its campuses. He is charged with implementing "board policies with the help and advice of senior administrators and other members of the university community."[46] The president is responsible only to those two governing boards—there is no oversight by state officials. Frequently, the president also occupies a professorship in his academic discipline and engages in instructing students.

Governance at Rutgers University rests with a Board of Trustees consisting of 41 members, and a Board of Governors consisting of 15 voting members: 8 appointed by the Governor of New Jersey and 7 chosen by and from among the Board of Trustees.[47][48][49] The trustees constitute chiefly an advisory body to the board of governors and are the fiduciary overseers of the property and assets of the university that existed before the institution became the State University of New Jersey in 1945. The initial reluctance of the trustees (still acting as a private corporate body) to cede control of certain business affairs to the state government for direction and oversight caused the state to establish the board of governors in 1956.[50] Today, the board of governors maintains much of the corporate control of the university.

The members of the Board of Trustees are voted upon by different constituencies or appointed. "Two faculty and two students are elected by the University Senate as nonvoting representatives. The 59 voting members are chosen in the following way as mandated by state law: 20 charter members (of whom at least three shall be women), 16 alumni members nominated by the Nominating Committee of the Board of Trustees, and five public members appointed by the governor of the state with confirmation by the New Jersey State Senate.[51]

Rutgers University has three campuses in the state of New Jersey. The New Brunswick Campus located in the city of New Brunswick and adjacent Piscataway is the largest campus of the university. The Newark Campus in Newark, and the Camden Campus in Camden are located in the northern and southern parts of the state, respectively.[52] Combined, these campuses comprise 33 degree-granting schools and colleges, offering undergraduate, graduate and professional levels of study.[52] The university is centrally administered from New Brunswick, although Chancellors at the Newark and Camden campuses hold significant autonomy for some academic issues.[53]

The New Brunswick Campus (or Rutgers–New Brunswick) is the largest campus and the site of the original Rutgers College. Spread across six municipalities in Middlesex County, New Jersey, it lies chiefly in the City of New Brunswick and adjacent Piscataway, right along Route 18, and is composed of five smaller campuses and a few buildings in downtown New Brunswick. The historic College Avenue Campus is close to downtown New Brunswick and includes the seat of the University, Old Queens and other nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century buildings that constitute the Queens Campus and Voorhees Mall. Its proximity to New Brunswick's train station and numerous food vendors located downtown, in addition to a large amount of off-campus housing and fraternity and sorority houses make this a popular weekend destination. Across the city, Douglass Campus and Cook Campus are intertwined with each other and are often referred to collectively as the Cook/Douglass Campus. Cook Campus has extensive farms and woods that reach into North Brunswick and East Brunswick. Separated by the Raritan River are Busch Campus, in Piscataway, and Livingston Campus, also mainly in Piscataway but including remote sections of land extending into Edison and the Borough of Highland Park. The Busch Campus is noted as the home of Rutgers' highly ranked Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, as well as the golf course and football stadium. The Livingston campus is home to the RAC, a trapezoidal building which currently acts as home for many sports teams, notably the Men's Basketball Team. Additionally, this campus has undergone many renovations and is regarded as the most "modern" campus. The campus entrance is delineated by an all-glass business building known as the "100 Rock". From this building's fifth floor lounge, one can see the distant skyline of New York City on many clear days. Featuring (arguably) the best dining hall and top notch housing, Livingston attracts many students who may want a quieter city-life experience than the one on College Avenue. Rutgers Campus Buses transport students between the various campuses.[54]

The Newark Campus (or Rutgers–Newark) consists of eight undergraduate, graduate and professional schools, including: Newark College of Arts and Sciences, University College, School of Criminal Justice, Graduate School, School of Nursing, School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers Business School and the Newark location of the Rutgers Law School. As of 2012[update], 7,666 undergraduates and 4,345 graduate students (total 12,011) are enrolled at the Newark campus.[6]

The Camden Campus (or Rutgers–Camden) consists of five undergraduate, graduate and professional schools, including: Camden College of Arts and Sciences, University College, Graduate School, Rutgers School of Business – Camden and the Camden location of the Rutgers Law School.. The schools are located in the Cooper's Grant and Central Waterfront neighborhoods of Camden. As of 2012[update], 4,708 undergraduates and 1,635 graduate students (total 6,343) are enrolled at the Camden campus.[6]

The Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) is a division of the university that serves as an umbrella organization for schools, centers, and institutes from Rutgers University and the old University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The organization was incorporated into the university following the 2013 merger of Rutgers and the UMDNJ.[55] While its various facilities are spread across several locations statewide, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences is considered a "campus" for certain organizational purposes, such as the appointment of a separate Chancellor.[56][57][58][59]

RBHS comprises nine schools and other research centers and institutes including; Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, New Jersey Medical School, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, College of Nursing, School of Nursing, School of Dental Medicine, School of Health Related Professions, the School of Public Health, Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Environmental and the Occupational Health Sciences Institute. The programs are offered at different location sites across New Jersey in New Brunswick, Newark, Camden, Stratford and Scotch Plains.

As of Fall 2015, Rutgers offers a total of 11 fully online degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.[60] An integral part of the institution's academic fabric, and a priority in the university's strategic development initiatives, these programs constitute, collectively, "Rutgers Online." Online degree programs at Rutgers must meet the same academic expectations, in terms of both teaching and learning outcomes, as traditional on-campus programs.

Rutgers offers classes at several off-campus sites in affiliation with community colleges and other state colleges throughout New Jersey.[61] These partnerships are designed to enable students to achieve a seamless transfer to Rutgers, and to take all of their Rutgers classes in a select number of the most popular majors at the community college campus. The collaborative effort provides access to Rutgers faculty teaching Rutgers courses, at a convenient location, but it is also one of the few programs that cater exclusively to the non-traditional student population. Rutgers' current partners include Atlantic Cape, Brookdale, Mercer, Morris, and Raritan Valley community colleges.[62]

Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is one of the nine colonial chartered colleges established before the American Revolution. In 1864, the New Jersey Legislature selected Rutgers as New Jersey's sole land-grant college which expanded the school's offerings in the fields of practical agriculture, science, military science and engineering. The state legislature designated Rutgers to be New Jersey's state university by acts passed in 1945 and 1956. It is the only university in the United States able to boast all three designations.[63] The university offers more than 100 distinct bachelor, 100 master, and 80 doctoral and professional degree programs across 175 academic departments, 29 degree-granting schools and colleges, 16 of which offer graduate programs of study.

The Rutgers University Libraries (RUL) system consists of twenty-six libraries, centers and reading rooms located on the University's four campuses. Housing a collection that includes 4,383,848 volumes (print and electronic), 4,605,896 microforms, as well as a wide array of electronic indexes and abstracts, full-text electronic journals, and research guides, Rutgers University Libraries ranks among the nation's top research libraries.[67] The American Library Association ranks the Rutgers University Library system as the 44th largest library in the United States in terms of volumes held.[68]

The Archibald S. Alexander Library in New Brunswick is the oldest and the largest library of the University, and houses an extensive humanities and social science collection.[67][69] It also supports the work of faculty and staff at four professional schools: the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, the Graduate School of Education, the Graduate School of Social Work, and the School of Communication and Information. Alexander Library is also a Federal Depository Library, maintaining a large collection of government documents, which contains United States, New Jersey, foreign, and international government publications.[69] The Library of Science and Medicine (LSM) on the Busch Campus in Piscataway houses the University's collection in behavioral, biological, earth, and pharmaceutical sciences and engineering. LSM also serves as a designated depository library for government publication regarding science, and owns a U.S. patent collection and patent search facility.[70] It was officially established as the Library of Science and Medicine in July 1964 although the beginning of the development of a library for science started in 1962. The current character of LSM is a university science library also serving a medical school.[71] On the New Brunswick-Piscataway campus, in addition to Alexander Library, many individual disciplines have their own libraries, including Alcohol Studies, Art History, Chemistry, Mathematics, Music, and Physics. Special Collections and University Archives houses the Sinclair New Jersey Collection, manuscript collection, and rare book collection, as well as the University Archives. Although located in the Alexander Library building, Special Collections and University Archives actually comprises a distinct unit unto itself. Also located within the Alexander Library is the East Asian Library which holds a sizable collection of Chinese, Japanese and Korean monographs and periodicals. In Newark, the John Cotton Dana Library, which includes the Institute of Jazz Studies, and the Paul Robeson Library in Camden, serve their respective campuses with a broad collection of volumes. Individual items and collections within the Libraries can be identified using the Rutgers University Library Catalog.

The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum on Hamilton Street in New Brunswick

Rutgers oversees several museums and collections that are open to the public.

Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, on the College Avenue Campus maintains a collection of over 60,000 works of art, focusing on Russian and Soviet art, French 19th-century art and American 19th- and 20th-century art with a concentration on early-20th-century and contemporary prints.[72]

New Jersey Museum of Agriculture on Cook Campus, houses an extensive collection of agricultural, scientific and household tools that spans 350 years of New Jersey's history. The bulk of the collection rests on the 8,000-item Wabun C. Krueger Collection of Agricultural, Household, and Scientific Artifacts, and over 30,000 glass negatives and historic photographs. This has since been closed.[74]

U.S. News & World Report considers the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University to be a "more selective" school in terms of the rigor of its admissions processes.[78] For the Class of 2017 (enrolling fall 2013), the New Brunswick campus received 30,631 applications and accepted 18,230 (59.5%).[79] The number enrolling was 6,402; the yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who enroll) was 35.1%.[79] The middle 50% range of SAT scores was 520–640 for critical reading, 570–690 for math, and 540–650 for writing.[79] For the Class of 2020 (enrolling fall 2016), the New Brunswick campus accepted 58% of the 35,340 applicants. The number enrolling was 7,706; the yield rate was 37%.[80]

As a state university, Rutgers charges two separate rates for tuition and fees depending on an enrolled student's residency. The Office of Institutional Research and Academic Planning estimates that costs in-state student of attending Rutgers would amount to $25,566 for an undergraduate living on-campus and $30,069 for a graduate student. For an out-of-state student, the costs rise to $38,228 and $39,069 respectively.[6] As of the 2012–2013 academic school year, the cost of attendance for in-state students is $13,073, $26,393 for out-of-state students and $11,412 for Room and Board.[81]

In the 2010–2011 academic year, undergraduate students at Rutgers, through a combination of federal (53.5%), state (23.6%), university (18.1%), and private (4.8%) scholarship, loans, and grants, received $492,260,845 of financial aid. 81.4% of all undergraduates, or 34,473 students, received some form of financial aid. During the same period, graduate students, through a combination of federal (61.9%), state (1.8%), university (34.5%), and private (1.9%) scholarship, loans, and grants received $182,384,256 of financial aid. 81.5% of all graduate students, or 11,852 students received some form of financial aid.[6]

In 2007, the university's office for Enrollment Management launched the Rutgers Future Scholars Program as an initiative to help 7th graders from low-income families achieve academic success and be the first in their families to go to college. The program targets students from the school systems of Rutgers's hometowns, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Newark, and Camden. Once admitted, the students receive mentoring and college prep courses each summer leading up to the year of their college applications. If admitted to the university, they are given a full tuition scholarship for four years of undergraduate study. The program has been very successful and currently admits as many as 200 new 7th graders each year with the most of the original 200 now attending the University as undergraduates.[82]

The university was ranked 48th in the United States and 96th worldwide in the 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), while ranking 24th nationwide and 33rd in the world in the 2014 Center for World University Rankings.[91]

In 2003, the Wall Street Journal conducted a study of the undergraduate institutions that most frequently feed students placements at elite professional and graduate programs, such as Columbia, Yale and Harvard; Rutgers was ranked 20th in the rankings they compiled for state universities.[94] On a side note, Forbes ranked Rutgers as being the 20th best public university in the United States for "getting rich", as judged by its students' median salaries upon graduation.[95]

Rutgers Business School (RBS) was ranked 39th in the 2006 Wall Street Journal Ranking of Top Business Schools.[101] The full-time Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) program was ranked 48th in the United States in 2015 by U.S. News and World Report.[102] It has specialities in the Pharma, Biotech and Healthcare industries. The RBS Master of Quantitative Finance (M.Q.F.) program, and the Master of Mathematical Finance (M.S.M.F) program in the Department of Mathematics, are ranked 7th in the United States.[103]

The Division of Global Affairs (DGA)[1] Ph.D. program at Rutgers University-Newark was ranked fifth in the nation in the Benchmarking Academic Excellence survey of Top Universities in Social and Behavioral Sciences Disciplines in the combined category of International Affairs and Development for 2006–07.[106]

In 2010, the Wall Street Journal ranked Rutgers University #21 in schools whose graduates are top-rated by recruiters.[107]

Rutgers study abroad program has been offering opportunities for international study for over 50 years. Rutgers global offers more than 180 study and service-learning programs to more than 50 countries for all majors. These programs range from short term summer programs to long term semester programs. Often scholarships and financial support is offered to students who wish to study abroad. Rutgers also hosts students from universities around the globe.[109]

Rutgers is also home to the RCSB Protein Data bank,[110] 'an information portal to Biological Macromolecular Structures' cohosted with the San Diego Supercomputer Center. This database is the authoritative research tool for bioinformaticists using protein primary, secondary and tertiary structures worldwide.'

The Rutgers Tomato growing at a New Jersey greenhouse

Rutgers is home to the Rutgers Cooperative Research & Extension office, which is run by the Agricultural and Experiment Station with the support of local government. The institution provides research & education to the local farming and agro industrial community in 19 of the 21 counties of the state and educational outreach programs offered through the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Office of Continuing Professional Education.

Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) is the largest university based repository in the world and has received awards worth more than $57.8 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). One will fund genetic studies of mental disorders and the other will support investigations into the causes of digestive, liver and kidney diseases, and diabetes.[111] RUCDR activities will enable gene discovery leading to diagnoses, treatments and, eventually, cures for these diseases. RUCDR assists researchers throughout the world by providing the highest quality biomaterials, technical consultation, and logistical support.

Rutgers–Camden is home to the nation's PhD granting Department of Childhood Studies. This department, in conjunction with the Center for Children and Childhood Studies, also on the Camden campus, conducts interdisciplinary research which combines methodologies and research practices of sociology, psychology, literature, anthropology and other disciplines into the study of childhoods internationally.

Rutgers is home to several National Science Foundation IGERT fellowships that support interdisciplinary scientific research at the graduate-level. Highly selective fellowships are available in the following areas: Perceptual Science, Stem Cell Science and Engineering, Nanotechnology for Clean Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Fuels Solutions, and Nanopharmaceutical Engineering.

Rutgers also maintains the Office of Research Alliances[112] that focuses on working with companies to increase engagement with the university's faculty members, staff and extensive resources on the four campuses.

The Voorhees Chapel is a notable landmark on the Douglass campus at Rutgers. Douglass was founded as an all-women's college in 1918, but now houses co-ed dormitories

Rutgers University offers a variety of housing options. On the New Brunswick-Piscataway campus, students are given the option of on-campus housing in both traditional dorms or apartments. Freshman students, however, are allowed only a dorm, while upperclassmen have a wider array of on-campus housing choices, like apartments, but must apply for on-campus housing through the Rutgers online lottery process. Most students seeking on-campus housing will be accommodated with a space and sophomores are guaranteed housing.[113] Many Rutgers students opt to rent apartments or houses off-campus within the city of New Brunswick.[114] Similar setups are to be found in Rutgers–Newark and Rutgers–Camden, however a substantial portion of the students on those campuses commute and/or are enrolled on a part-time basis.

Rutgers University's four campuses are in the culturally-diverse, redeveloping urban areas (Newark, Camden, and New Brunswick) with convenient access to New York City and Philadelphia by either automobile, Amtrak or New Jersey Transit. US News & World Report ranked Rutgers–Newark the most diverse university campus in the United States.[115] Because the area of Rutgers' New Brunswick-Piscataway campus—which is composed of several constituent colleges and professional schools—is sprawled across six municipalities, the individual campuses are connected by an inter-campus bus system. The Rutgers bus system is the second largest bus service in New Jersey, and one of the largest in the country.[116]

Services provided by the university include Rutgers Police, Emergency Medical Services, an emergency management office, bus and shuttle service, inter- and intra-campus mail, and occupational and environmental health and safety.

Rutgers University has a student government which controls funding to student groups. The student government is made up of campus councils and professional school councils. Those councils then send representatives to the student assembly as well as the university senate. An example of these campus councils is the University College Council, which represents adult, part-time, and military veteran students.

Rutgers hosts over 700 student organizations; among the first student groups was the first college newspaper in the United States. The Political Intelligencer and New Jersey Adviser began publication at Queen's College in 1783, and ceased operation in 1785.[23] Continuing this tradition is the university's current college newspaper, The Daily Targum, established in 1869, which is the second-oldest college newspaper published in the United States, after The Dartmouth (1843). Both poet Joyce Kilmer and economist Milton Friedman served as editors. Also included are The Medium, a weekly satirical newspaper billed as Rutgers Entertainment Weekly, Rutgers Centurion, a conservative newspaper, the Rutgers University Glee Club, a male choral singing group established in 1872 (among the oldest in the country). Rutgers a cappella groups have routinely placed well in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, including 2010 when The OrphanSporks placed second in the semifinals.[117] Governed by the Rutgers University Student Assembly and funded by student fees, students can organize groups for practically any political ideology or issue, ethnic or religious affiliation, academic subject, activity, or hobby.

Rutgers University is home to chapters of many Greek organizations, and a significant percentage of the undergraduate student body is active in Greek life. Several fraternities and sororities maintain houses for their chapters in the area of Union Street (known familiarly as "Frat Row") in New Brunswick, within blocks of Rutgers' College Avenue Campus. Chapters of Zeta Psi and Delta Phi organized at Rutgers as early as 1845. The Alpha Rho chapter of Chi Psi fraternity, founded at Rutgers College in 1879, was the first fraternity at Rutgers to own a fraternity house, or "Lodge", purchased in 1887. The fraternity today still owns and occupies the same property at 114 College Avenue. Today, there are over 50 fraternities and sororities on the New Brunswick-Piscataway campus, ranging from traditional to historically African-American, Hispanic, Multicultural, and Asian interest organizations.[118] The New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University has a chapter of the only active co-ed pre-medical fraternity, Phi Delta Epsilon, as of 2008[update].[119] Greek organizations are governed by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs. Twelve organizations maintain chapters in New Brunswick without sanction by the University's administration.[120] Students involved in Greek Life must meet academic eligibility requirements including maintaining a cumulative 2.5 GPA, completion of 12 credits, and be a currently enrolled full-time student. Some individual organizations hold a higher GPA requirement.

Many Greek organizations hold fundraising events specific to their philanthropy. However, it's Rutgers tradition that our students participate in one of the largest student-run philanthropic events in New Jersey. All proceeds go to the non-profit organization, Embrace Kids Foundation. This foundation advocates for children with cancer and blood disorders. Dance Marathon includes over 400 dancers pledging to stay away and stand for 32 hours with the support and help of 500 volunteers. Dance Marathon 2015 collected a record breaking $692,046.67.[121][122]

Several of the campuses are relatively new; the Busch campus (shown) was built within the last few decades and the Livingston campus is being expanded with new dormitories and facilities.

In the late 19th century, the university banned fraternities because of their unusual hazing practices. This caused them to go underground as secret societies. It also sparked the interest of some students to create their own societies. Cap and Skull was founded at Rutgers before the turn of the 20th century.

The Grease Trucks are a group of truck-based food vendors located at various locations on the New Brunswick campus. They serve traditional grill fare, Middle-Eastern specialties, and are especially well known for serving "Fat Sandwiches," a sub roll containing various ingredients such as cheesesteak, burgers, pork roll, chicken fingers, French fries, mozzarella sticks, eggs, bacon, gyro meat, and marinara sauce. The Rutgers Grease Trucks were located in a designated lot for nearly two decades until August 2013. Truck owners were forced to relocate due to the construction of an $84-million student apartment complex. Three trucks remain on the College Avenue Campus, while the remaining two were moved to the Cook/Douglass Campus.

The Dance Marathon is a student-run organization that consists of a year-long series of fundraisers and culminates with the annual Marathon on April 5–6 in the College Avenue Gym. At the Marathon over 400 dancers pledge to raise funds and remain standing for 32 hours without sleeping. The 'Dancers', along with over 500 volunteers and countless visitors, are entertained by live bands, comedians, prize giveaways, games, sports, a mechanical bull, computer and internet access, various theme hours and much more. Rutgers has held this tradition since 1999 and to date has raised in excess of $1.3 million for the Embrace Kids Foundation. In the seventies the Dance Marathon raised funds for the American Cancer Society. In the Eighties it was the Rutger Cancer Research Association.

'RutgersFest was a day-long cultural event staged variously on either Livingston Campus or Busch Campus. It was designed to promote college spirit through student organization participation with activities and entertainment throughout the day, culminating with a free concert and fireworks at night. The event was free to all students and guests and was funded as part of an elected programming fee paid by all students as part tuition. Past musical guests have included: Kanye West, Everclear, Sugar Ray, Guster, Goldfinger, Ludacris, Reel Big Fish, Method Man and Redman, Fuel, Third Eye Blind, Hawthorne Heights, NAS, SR-71, Ok Go, N.E.R.D and Pitbull. The event would feature carnival attractions such as bungee bull, bouncy boxing, moon walk, electronic basketball, a recording studio and more. Attendance for the annual event was about 40,000–50,000, topping out at an estimated 65,000 in 2004 at the event which featured Kanye West and Sugar Ray[124] The event was staged by the Rutgers University Programming Association (RUPA), which used to be known as the Rutgers College Programming Committee (RCPC), as a year-end celebration before the start of the final examination period.

During its final year in 2011, the festival was held on Busch Campus. Invited musical guests included Yelawolf, Pitbull, and 3OH!3. Several violent incidents that year lead to the indefinite cancellation of the event. President Richard McCormick, in a letter to the Rutgers community, commented: "The problems that occur following RutgersFest have grown beyond our capacity to manage them, and the only responsible course of action is to cancel the event."[125]

Rutgers University's only school color is scarlet. Students had sought to make orange the school color, citing Rutgers' Dutch heritage and in reference to the Prince of Orange. The Rutgers student publication Targum (which would become the Daily Targum) proposed that scarlet be adopted in May 1869, claiming that it was a striking color and because scarlet ribbon was easily obtained. During the first intercollegiate football game with Princeton on November 6, 1869, the players from Rutgers wore scarlet-colored turbans and handkerchiefs to distinguish them as a team from the Princeton players.[126] The Board of Trustees officially made scarlet the school color in 1900.[126]

In its early days, Rutgers athletes were known informally as "The Scarlet" in reference to the school color, or as "Queensmen" in reference to the institution's first name, Queen's College.[126] In 1925, the mascot was changed to Chanticleer, a fighting rooster from the medievalfableReynard the Fox (Le Roman de Renart) which was used by Geoffrey Chaucer's in the Canterbury Tales.[126] At the time, the student humour magazine at Rutgers was called Chanticleer, and one of its early arts editors, Ozzie Nelson (later of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet fame) was quarterback of the Rutgers team from 1924 to 1926.[127] The Chanticleer mascot was unveiled at a football game against Lafayette College, in which Lafayette was also introducing a new mascot, a leopard.[127] However, the choice of Chanticleer as a mascot was often the subject of ridicule because of its association with "being chicken."[128] In 1955, the mascot was changed to the Scarlet Knight after a campus-wide election, beating out other contenders such as "Queensmen", the "Scarlet", the "Red Lions", the "Redmen" and the "Flying Dutchmen."[126][129] Earlier proposed nicknames included "Pioneers" and "Cannoneers". When Harvey Harman, then coach of the football team, was asked why he supported changing the Rutgers mascot, he was quoted as saying, "You can call it the Chanticleer, you can call it a fighting cock, you can call it any damn thing you want, but everybody knows it's a chicken."[130] Harman later is said to have bought the first "Scarlet Knight" mascot costume for the 1955 season, which was to be his final season as football coach at Rutgers.[131]

Rutgers was among the first American institutions to engage in intercollegiate athletics, and participated in a small circle of schools that included Yale University, Columbia University and long-time rival, Princeton University (then called the College of New Jersey). The four schools met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in Manhattan on October 19, 1873, to establish a set of rules governing their intercollegiate competition, and particularly to codify the new game of football. Although invited, Harvard chose not to attend.[132] In the early years of intercollegiate athletics, the schools that participated in these athletic events were located solely in the American Northeast. However, by the turn of the 20th century, colleges and universities across the United States began to participate.

In 1864, rowing became the first organized sport at Rutgers. Six mile races were held on the Raritan River among six-oared boats. In 1870, Rutgers held its first intercollegiate competition, against the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard, the then top-ranked amateur crew of the time. Since the start in 1864, Rutgers has built a strong crew program consisting of heavyweight and lightweight men. Women's crew was added to the program in 1974. Financial support of the men's crew program was discontinued by the university in 2006, though the crew continues to compete (funded entirely by alumni and private support) at a high level in the prestigious Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges conference.

The first intercollegiate athletic event at Rutgers was a baseball game on May 2, 1866, against Princeton in which they suffered a 40–2 loss.[23]

Beginning in 1866, Rutgers was unaffiliated with any formal athletic conference and thus classified as "independent" for eighty years. From 1946 to 1951, the university was a member of the Middle Three Conference, and from 1958 to 1961, was a member of the Middle Atlantic Conference.[136] In 1978, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights became a member of the Atlantic 10 conference. In 1991, it joined the Big East Conference for football. All sports programs at Rutgers New Brunswick subsequently became affiliated with the Big East in 1995.[137]

The first intercollegiate competition in Ultimate Frisbee (now called "Ultimate") was held between students from Rutgers and Princeton on November 6, 1972, to mark the one hundred third anniversary of the first intercollegiate football game. Rutgers won 29–27.[138] The Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's Basketball Team was among the "Final Four" and ended the 1976 season ranked fourth in the United States, after an 86–70 loss against the University of Michigan in the semifinals, and a 106–92 loss against UCLA in the consolation round of the 1976 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.[139]

The Scarlet Knights have won five Big East Conference tournament titles: men's soccer (1997), men's track & field (2005), baseball (2000, 2007), and women's basketball (2007). Several other teams have won regular season titles but failed to win the conference's championship tournament.[141]

Although the Rutgers Scarlet Knights' football team had losing seasons in 2016 and 2015 (won-lost records of 2-10 and 4-8, respectively)[142] it achieved success previously, being invited to the Insight Bowl on December 27, 2005, in which they lost 45 to 40 against Arizona State University.[143] This was Rutgers' first bowl appearance since the December 16, 1978, loss against Arizona State, 34–18, at the Garden State Bowl. The 2006 football season also saw Rutgers being ranked within the Top 25 teams in major college football polls. After the November 9, 2006 victory over the 3rd ranked, undefeated Louisville Cardinals, Rutgers jumped up to seventh in the AP Poll, eighth in the USA Today/Coaches poll, seventh in the Harris Interactive Poll, and sixth in the Bowl Championship Series rankings. These were Rutgers' highest rankings in the football polls since they were ranked fifteenth in 1961. Rutgers ended the season 11–2 after winning the inaugural Texas Bowl on December 28, 2006, defeating the Wildcats of Kansas State University by a score of 37–10 and finishing the season ranked twelfth in the final AP poll of sportswriters, the team's highest season-ending ranking.[144]

Under Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer, the women's basketball program is among the elite programs in the country as they remain consistently ranked in the Top 25, consistently making the NCAA Women's Championship Tournament, and sometimes winning the Big East regular season championship. In 2006–2007, the Scarlet Knights won their first ever Big East Conference Tournament Championship. The program has been highly competitive since its inception, winning the 1982 AIAW National Championship, reaching the 2000 Final Four, and reaching the Final Four and national championship game in 2007.

In the fall of 2007, six Rutgers New Brunswick/Piscataway's NCAA Division I sports were discontinued by the University, including men's swimming and diving, men's heavyweight and lightweight crew, men's tennis, and men's and women's fencing. Some continued as club teams, while some were disbanded completely. The University claims this change was due to budget cuts, while others claim it was a politically motivated move designed to protest state's funding changes.

In November 2012, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, along with Louisville, Connecticut, and Cincinnati left the Big East to form the American Athletic Conference. Syracuse and Pittsburgh have decided to enter the Atlantic Coast Conference, while West Virginia entered the Big 12 conference, taking effect as of the 2012–2013 season. Rutgers decided to leave the American for the Big Ten Conference, effective July 1, 2014. Rutgers surpassed Penn State as the Big Ten's easternmost school.

Many other members of the faculty have received the highest awards in their fields, including Guggenheim and MacArthur "Genius Award" fellowships, Pulitzer Prize winners, National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology recipients, a National Endowment for the Arts "Jazz Master," amongst others.[7] As of 2013[update], 37 science, engineering and medical faculty are members of the four "National Academies"—the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council.[7][148]

^Lai, Jonathan, "Pritchett to step down as Rutgers-Camden chancellor"Archived 2014-03-15 at the Wayback Machine., The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 11, 2013. Quote: "The university has a chancellor in each of its regional campuses, in Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark, along with a fourth covering the new Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences division. The chancellors hold direct responsibility for their campus' daily operations". Retrieved March 14, 2014.

^University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; State of New Jersey, Commission on Higher Education. UMDNJ Final Annual Institutional Profile, June 30, 2013Archived March 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. (2013), 187. Quote: "The legacy UMDNJ Schools as well as biomedical schools/units from Rutgers University were designated a fourth "campus" of Rutgers University, the Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) campus." Retrieved March 15, 2014.

^Note: Rutgers is the only one of the original nine colonial colleges to satisfy all three categories. Seven of the colonial colleges remained private institutions (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Brown, and Dartmouth). Of the two that became state institutions, Rutgers and College of William and Mary, only Rutgers was named a land-grant college.

^ abcdefTraditionArchived 2014-09-24 at the Wayback Machine. at www.scarletknights.com. Published by Rutgers University Athletic Department (no further authorship information available), accessed September 10, 2006.

^ abScarlet Letter 1924 (Rutgers University yearbook), Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.

^November 1948Archived 2012-02-05 at the Wayback Machine. in Fifty Years Ago: Class of 1951 at published by the Princeton Class of 1951, edited by J. Sprigg Duvall (no further authorship information available). Accessed January 12, 2007.

^"Rutgers". Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-12. at BigEast.org Official Site of the Big East Conference. Published by the Big East Conference (no further authorship information available). Retrieved January 12, 2007.

History of Rutgers College: or an account of the union of Rutgers College, and the Theological Seminary of the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church. Prepared and published at the request of several trustees of the College, by a trustee. (New York: Anderson & Smith, 1833).

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